The red passport

Katherine Shonk

"The unpredictable, poignant, and often comic stories that make up Katherine Shonk's The Red Passport portray the tumult, hopes, and setbacks of natives and foreigners alike in post-Communist Russia. Many of the Russians in these stories are strangers in their own country, learning to navigate a new landscape of Dunkin' Donuts franchises that flourish where consumer culture was so recently anathema; where the fall of the Soviet Union has not brought peace or prosperity; and where people still find a way to reach out for love, despite often disastrous results. "My Mother's Garden" is a parable of broken promises - an old woman living near Chernobyl does not understand why she can't eat those lovely, robust onions, better than any she's grown. "Our American" tells the story of a thirteen-year-old boy who watches with fascination and dread as his older brother, a veteran of the Chechen...

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